Breaking It In

Boston-based singer/songwriter Alexis Babini comes off as a consummate loverman on his six-song EP Breaking It In. Or maybe the term should be "relationship hound"; in any case, in one song after another, Babini sings in a soft, ingratiating tenor over sweet folk-rock arrangements with catchy choruses, and over and over he is trying to get across his undying ardor for "you," presumably a comely and sympathetic female. "There'll be bumps in the road," he admits in "Sometimes," "but we'll get by. This ain't no fairy tale, this is real life." "Take it from me," he assures in the song of that title, "there ain't no place I'd rather be." "I wanna get to know you," he declares in the series of pickup lines that is "Easy on the Eyes," "and then I wanna get to know you more." Who could resist such blandishments? Men might snicker, but Babini is likely to be catnip to his intended audience, one that finds John Mayer a little too aggressive.